Click on the photo below to see all of the pictures from our afternoon:

Instead of hiking photos, I offer this photo of “Dash” (from the Incredibles). Caleb was looking forward to Megan’s train arriving in West Medford and rather than giving him a much-needed trim, we decided to spike his hair. He insisted on being called Dash thereafter (yes, all night — he pretty much would not answer to “Caleb”) and could (almost, if you looked really quickly and have very sharp vision) be seen sprinting around the house for the rest of the afternoon and evening.

After dinner we decided to walk to Arlington since the weather was so nice and a bit of walking would be fun. By that point Caleb’s hair dried in a big spikey puff. It was fantastic.

I like being outdoors quite a bit (a lot, actually), but Caleb may actually like being outside more than I do. So, rather than force him to wear his winter jacket in wet spring weather, or his bulky (width-wise) anorak (I suppose he could also wear it over his backpack like a poncho…), I figured it was time to get him a proper shell for his torso, and perhaps a pair of rain pants as well.

I did a bit of research online as well and decided that the jacket should be more of a performance item (waterproof with as much breathability as possible) and figured he could live with semi-breathable rain pants to save a few bucks. Now comes the hard part… In looking at the various jacket options in-person, I found that as the sizes increased from the toddler range to the “boys” range, the girth noticeably expanded as well. This was a consistent feature in many of the jacket brands I checked out. (I’ll save my comments about childhood obesity, diabetes, exercise, quality of diet, television, parental responsibility, etc. for some other time…)

I managed to find two jacket brands that stayed slim as the size increased: The North Face, and Marmot. Since Caleb seems to grow a few inches in height every time I blink, I eyeballed the jackets for a size that I figured would carry him through two seasons (we did the same with his Columbia jacket, which was also on the trim side). Both jackets were quite nice but I settled on the Marmot for a few outdoorsy-geeky reasons (front pockets above the hip belt, double storm flap, lightweight and more flexible fabric) and because Marmot is an awesome company.

For pants I chose REI’s Cascade Pants, which have a waterproof, windproof, breathable material. They are also nice and trim and the pair I bought him may actually last him three seasons (the first two will require some cuffing, of course!).

So, head to toe, save gloves, Caleb is now water and wind-proof. For winter outings we’ll layer him up (just like we do) rather than encase him in a single puffy layer, and for the other three seasons we’ll do the same, with fewer layers, of course. I’m eager to get him out for longer hikes and have a few camping/hiking trips for he and I (+ Megan and Nadine for a few) planned between now and next winter.

Here’s a photo of Caleb in his new high-tec shells:

And what does any responsible outdoor-type person do as soon as they bring new gear home? They test it out of course! (Yes, I know I’m a dork but I’d rather find out something is not waterproof in my shower than 5 miles down a trail in pouring rain…)

While we had quite a fun time in the snow a week earlier, it was nice to see it melt down into the ground and drains along with the colder temperatures. For a moment, we thought that we might be back in sunny California, until we went to the park and encountered the mud fields (which, a day before, were vast snow/ice/slush fields). Ahhh, there is nothing like a beautiful white snow scape turning into a sticky, messy, mud dump.